Mugabe Predicts Victory in Zimbabwe's Election

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 10, 2002

Mugabe Predicts Victory in Zimbabwe's Election

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Zimbabwe's incumbent President Robert Mugabe Saturday predicted victory in the country's two- horse presidential race, saying that he will accept the outcome of the election because he will have defeated Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Looking tired but blithesome after more than a month of daily election campaigns throughout the southern African country, Mugabe cast his vote in a weekend presidential poll, in which he is facing a serious challenge from his main rival Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwean veteran leader, who has been in power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980, was accompanied to the polling station at a school in the poor suburb of Highfield in the capital Harare by family members, including two children.

He told journalists after casting his ballot that he was more than confident of winning the election.

"I will accept the results more than anything because I will have won," said Mugabe.

He said those who thought the election process would be rigged were supporters of the MDC party, adding that they were prejudging and wanted to direct the process.

Tension has risen sharply in Zimbabwe in recent months, after long and sometimes violent election campaigns. The MDC party has accused Mugabe of using violence and other electoral manipulation to rig the poll.

While defying international pressure to back down from his controversial land reforms, Mugabe has said he needs a new six- year mandate to complete the reforms.

Under these reforms, the Zimbabwean government has taken over excess and idle farms from white farmers, who own the bulk of the country's arable land, to resettle landless peasants.

Nearly 500,000 people have been resettled since the beginning of last year.

However, the program has drawn sharp international rebuke, particularly from former colonial power Britain, but Mugabe has vowed to press ahead with the reforms.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Mugabe and 19 of his close associates last month, while the United States took the same move, accusing Mugabe of violating human rights and cracking down on the opposition, the media and judiciary.

The controversial land reform is the pillar of Mugabe's electoral strategy, which political analysts say could work either way.

In Mugabe's view, the March election is a new chapter in his long struggle against colonial rule, which he led from the early 1960s until the country's independence.

"We have to deliver and safeguard the most important heritage to the young generation - land - which was taken from our forefathers by force," he told a recent rally.

Mugabe even talked about his desire to keep safeguarding Zimbabwe's sovereignty and land in spirit when he dies, a dream which the veteran leader said forced him to sacrifice a bright teaching career in the 1950s to lead his compatriots out of colonial rule.

But that ambition would be fully tested at the ballot box this weekend.

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